Part 61
Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - More interesting items/ideas for a Bioshock Rapture MMORPG --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - Part 61 --- --- --- --- --- --- Toys Sold 'Cheap' ? : Evil Sinclair is making people make toys/etc.. and making a buck off it.... Reference should be made that the 'cheap labor' might be the effect of cutting out the middleman. If people in Paupers Drop dont want the offered jobs, they dont have to take them. Rapture for all its advanced technology and appearance of a Big City is still the size of a small town and does not warrant assembly line production for many products. SO, hand labor would be much more common and it is fully possible that the laborer could make as much or more money as classic assembly line workers did. The flexibility of working at home was another bonus to the worker, as well as being able to do it part time. 60-70 years ago people were commonly still doing this kind of work, the writers needed to get their 'heads into that era' a bit more. --- --- --- At this point most (if not every) Splicers were controlled by Ryan : ''' Were they?? IF so, then Atlas already should have been quickly dead (takes just one Splicer finding him -- and Atlas is unspliced too - weak in comparison). You have to sleep sometime. Think what Bounty Ryan would have put on Atlas (1000 ADAM for Jack would have been measly by comparison ... think Bounty "10000 ADAM" and Atlas likely would be dead the next day) and where could Atlas hide?? He came out of the woodwork in the Smugglers Hideout ... hardly something done by someone who would be instantly killed on sight by any and all Splicers. Ryan is shown doing the Bount thing against Jack, why didnt Ryan do it against Atlas, the bigger enemy, likely long before ?? BTW, Smugglers Hideout was crawling with HOW MANY Spider Splicers ? And Atlas so conveniently evades them and makes a retreat without them all rushing after him and chopping him to pieces ??? Quite convenient. He might have put up a bit more fight than that wimp "Johnny", but should have been fishfood in mere minutes. --- --- --- '''Sinclair Solutions Test Program - Played a major part in the Fall of Rapture ? Did it ??? Or that is just supposition, when so much else was going on in the City (like Atlas' Splicers killing people in the streets and shutting down much of the economy). How many of Raptures 'normal' people would actually play for 'Team Atlas' when all Atlas has to offer is disorder ? Sinclair sold to both sides?? (I dont recall, did any of the Sinclair product recordings say GO ATTACK RYANS FORCES ??) Was it easy to tell which side people were on ? Were Atlas's forces ever really that large ? Would Sinclair want Atlas to win ? Do YOU assume he stupidly wanted Atlas to be in charge of Rapture, with the threat it would mean to his own survival ?? Perhaps he intended it to be sold to good Citizens to protect themselves for Rapture to survive and resume normalcy, so that he would have some customers left by the end of it all (he WAS a businessman after all). Thus it might have been a more one sided 'Test' of arming ordinatry citizens to fight Atlas's barbarians wandering their streets. All in all, pretty contrived (now as 'canon') to justify a MultiPlayer addon game which had only one mechanism for how the players got their Plasmids/weapons --- --- --- SitS - Puzzleboxes Boobytrapped ? Did Lutwidge ever say that these things were boobytrapped? An easy way to solve them can be to cut them open and look at the mechanism. There should have been at least one that got damaged, would not function and Meltzer would be forced to do that (possibly to get some help if he was mechanically challenged - and the puzzle would be solving the mechanism's guts instead of the crazy puzzle outside). Actually, if they were boobytrapped (and Lutwidge WAS a known 'nut'), then many people (Meltzer included) might be rather wary of having anything to do with these bizarre toys --- as the 'nut' might try to prove himself 'superior' by intentionally trying to kill whoever tried to play his game -- instead of cutting them open and defusing them as HE Lutwidge (being so smart) would have done. I'll have to go back and look at when Lutwidge made up the puzzles (somewhere they mention one puzzle thingee strangely being sent to Meltzer when Lutridge was supposed to be in the loony-bin). If by the time Ryan had rejected him, he may have (in the way unhinged people sometimes are) been trying to prove to himself that HE was the smarter(est) one, and not caring about leading anyone to Rapture anymore - rather, sending something like a boobytrapped kaboom to anyone else involved, 'just for fun'. --- --- --- Ryan the Cardboard Cutout Villain : Ryan intervening in the 'civil war' only when normalcy is long gone : "was damned if he did and damned if he didnt" -- now when he finally intervenes for public safety he is labeled a tyrant. Maintaining order WAS one of the things that Ryan had a mandate to do. Apparently seizing Fontaine Futuristics was the 'breaking point' that enabled 'Atlas' ('Ryan the tyrant' propaganda) even though it was the source of the poison and was being used to arm the gangs of murderous Splicers that were disrupting Rapture (crazy Splicers murdering MANY citizens to the point they couldnt go to work or even out to buy food). Ryan should have shut the company down and let Atlas's Splicers wither away as their ADAM was cut off -- instead of the lame excuses showing him running it 'business as usual' -- you dont have business as usual in the middle of a War. Poisoning further Citizens instead was a bad decision he probably would NOT have made (except the plot said so) -- Rapture IS its Citizens. There is NO 'market' to be 'free' when psychotic maniacs are shooting everyone in sight. The later 'Control Pheromone vs Free-Will' ISSUE would not have happened (the supposed 'final' abandonment of his principles...) Even with THAT measure, hadn't the Splicers already surrendered their Free-Will to their ADAM addiction (the Pheromones control ONLY worked on Splicers geneticly modified by Plasmids...). Freedom to murder other people? Not quite that kind of Freedom in Ryans Philosophy. Instead the game makes Ryan only interested in profits. So Ryan waited too long to go against his 'principles' - only when Rapture was heading for destruction and Splicer armies were taking over, and he finally had to take strong measures and fought back instead of simply surrendering to those who would take all the power for themselves (and destroy any hope of going back to Rapture's founding principles). Was Ryan intelligently allowed to follow his principles? Or was he really just turned into a inflexible cardboard cutout tyrant to set the stage for a blast-fest shoot-em-up game in a flimsily contrived 'ruined city' ???? Nothing, even logic, gets in the way of 'The Plot' apparently. --- --- --- Bad Ending - Just an Assumption ?? : Easy enough that 'evil' Jack simply dies of something (Childhood disease maybe??) before he was able to do much to The Surface or to Rapture. BTW, no SLBM submarine (Boomer) would EVER be sent to investigate a plane crash like that (Cold war was still on, surface ships are for that, etc... ) So sorry, no nukes for Evil Jack. --- --- --- Ryan Gotten Wrong : Ryan did not hate 'altruism' (he did it himself by expending all his worldly wealth to build Rapture and to save at least part of mankind). Instead, he hated 'false altruists' -- which are people who use 'altruism' for their own ends (as in causing/making other people to be 'altruistic' and profiting in Wealth or Power). Forced collectivism destroys individual freedoms and since (shown in the novel) members of his family were murdered in the name of communism/collectivism, there was a good reason for him to hate it. Likewise the Russian Church was powerless in stopping the mass-murder. The problem is that labels are thrown about in the game (it is a shoot-em-up blast-fest game which makes these ideas far down in priorities to bother with addressing them cohesively). "The Great Chain" is a form of Collectivism (using the basic definition), so when Ryan says 'Collectivism' he must mean something more Real World specific. Society still works together, but collective actions are limited to those which dont interfere with individual's reasonable freedoms. --- --- --- BaS and the Illogic Continues .... : BaS - I understand why they would use Cohen again (very popular char from first game ...) - but 'Jumping the Gun' : But having him at the time of the Kashmir Incident murdering people publicly (before order fell apart ALOT more at the time Jack shows up) is just too limited-skill recycled idea fiction. Dumping his rejected art models into a vat of purple pudding (alive) would be more 'artsy', and then heaping witty ridicule upon them ("Get out of my ssssight YOU uninssspiring dregssss ! ! ! ") would have been more imaginative/proper for the context. Why would Cohen know where Sally is ?? (heh, 'twist' would have been Sally being one of Cohen's 'plaster-pieces' by the time they find her...) Why aren't Booker and Elizabeth horrified by the outright murder of two people (the eal slaughter really hasnt started yet...), or even of Kidnapping of children??? (Rapture hasnt gone-to-hell quite yet... cite - All that talk of things being 'back to normal'...) Was this whole DLC plot all just the first ideas they came up with, written on the back of a Denny's napkin ? People dont like being murdered and the City Constables would be round to lock ole 'insano' up right quick. Possibly this is yet more evidence of this not being "your father's Rapture" and some bizarro alternate universe, inhabitted by a Booker and Elizabeth which flipped a different quark somewhere down the infinite line?? (good ole "Butterfly Effect" plays hell with ""Constants and Variable""...) They also were hanging from those cords/ropes, but yes it is possible it was done for effect by Cohen (certainly outrageous enough --- as 'performance art' and missing a commentary on the low quality of dancing accepted 'these days'.) Still should be pretty horrifying for Booker and Elizabeth -- this is supposed to be PRE-Havock Rapture). Some hint (artsy-fartsy Cohen-ism), while the two other 'killed' dancers are being pulled upto the ceiling like puppets with confetti and sparklers popping out of them and striking dramatic pose in the background, just as Booker/Elizabeth are wilting from their own 'shock', might have been somewhat clever. Consider in BaS, Cohen PUBLICLY murdering people (or appearing to, as the various people have commented/questioned) which is far beyond the things the game mentioned before -- perversions/insanity which he did in private/the shadows. As Ive said, it would be no problem after such evidence in BaS for the Constables to put an end to Cohen for something so blatantly criminal and repugnant to the majority of Rapture's citizens -- who STILL largely were living in a climate of normalcy. "Cohen was already depraved and insane before Rapture collapsed" -- WHY then would the City Council place children in HIS hands ?? : Also remember the children in the orphanages -- were there really being used by Fontaine as ADAM producers - it is not clear for the transition when Fontaine's holdings were "nationalized" - but it is likley Ryan's proxies who continued its operations (since there was no reversing it, and ADAM was in high demand - not even to make profit, but to keep an addicted population from coming apart). SO who would be these people Cohen would be selling children to? Taking them away from where they already were "in-use" ?? And for what reason?? Pedophiles? We saw some LS with what looked like a Victorian Age schoolmarm in the street in BaS. That looked like the orphanage system was still in effect (and not "shut down", and the 'orphans' tossed onto the street (as some may have thought/implied Ryan would order). Rapture was coming apart ? Market and High Street didnt look like that to me. Remember the New Years Eve party was supposed to show that things were(had) gotten back to relative normality after the shocking events at Neptunes Bounty (Fontaine's Takedown). Thats why the Party attack was such a shock and touted as being so demoralizing and causing the "run on the banks", etc.... Upto this point things had been 'handled'. The methods people were used to (use mind-think of a 1940s American instead of todays PC 'sensitive' stuff). Suddenly a massive attack on bigwigs (and rioting elsewhere was hinted at I think) breaks the confidence that ANYONE will be safe from these mudereous monsters. That leads to the citizens panicking and the economy falling apart (as per BS1/BS2 history). All of this adds upto my comment about "Jumping the Gun" and making Rapture FAR more 'gone' than the previous games talk about at the timeframe point of BaS. They wanted to showcase Rapture "BEFORE", but then had to offer the shootem-up gunplay part of the game (and Cohen more like what he was a year later). I found the way they did that pretty weak (thus quickee ideas written on a 'napkin' simply being implemented). --- --- --- We should at least have the excuse that this isn't the original (BS1/BS2) Rapture, so NOTHING seen in that content has to be true anymore (but then other 'talk' here is about Levine saying it IS all the SAME both Booker/Elizabeth and Rapture...) --- --- --- Another puzzle is : Why if the 'orphanages' are still in operation, should there be a need to kidnap them (Sally, etc..). There possibly were others running their own ADAM-farms (we've seen bootleggers operations, in BS2), but they always in-game seem to imply that Ryan is doing all this 'kidnapping'. Atlas would be a likely perp, to supply his minions (He tries to temp JAck at the end of BS1 with "all the ADAM you could want..."). --- --- --- Actually Booker in BaS talking about murderous Splicers as if they were common as drunks makes it different from the original story plots, where McDonagh makes comments about Splicers he saw ("demons out of the Bible they were "quote) as like they were something not seen before (instead of being common knowledge like Booker says) and the dialogue in the previous Rapture games about the Constables having to uprate their weapons to face this new thing... IF there was such an obvious (to citizens) link between ADAM and common occurances of violent dangerous insane people, it would have given Ryan more than enough excuse/mandate to shut Fontaine's or even the whole ADAM industry down as a public hazard (like people selling poisoned/infected food). Freedom stops when it leads to murdering other citizens. --- --- --- BaS was also pushing things (for the game's flashy Booker used stuff) by having Combat Plasmids being sold blatantly in Fontaine's Department store. That would have dated from before Fontaine was 'killed'. Why would Fontaine want to hand away a major weapon (powerful Plasmids) to Ryan or anybody else at that point of time (or even after). You look at the advertisements in BS1/BS2/DLC representing Pre-Civil War Rapture and the Plasmids are for either convenient consumer tasks or citizen defensive measures. --- --- --- --- --- Killing Grace .... I recently paid Grace a visit (after having to listen to her bile yet again) and using the cheats (ghost/fly) and put some Trap Rivets in her little spider hole. I went back to normal mode outside to approach via the original sequence (hidden button/wipe the porthole/etc) and heard a Trap Rivet fire, but her little 'evil tin daddy' monologue continued as normal and on entry you could whack her repeatedly with little effect (her game-object probably was flagged as already Dead, so would not trigger her falling down 'death' animation). After taking the key and getting Sinclairs 'killed her' message (while she was still standing there) I left and the the game went on following the normal sequence of her being dead (Sofia's blatherings, etc...) That is a demonstration of what happens when you have choreographed scenes that normally dont allow you to do anying else (cuz it breaks the script's limited logic otherwise). General adaptive/versatile behavior takes several hundred times as much scripting logic - quite difficult - which is why game companies wont do it that way ( $$$ expensive and ALOT of work to test to get it work adaquately ). The MMORPG incrementally would have many many times the work done in that area. It is another one of the 'Asset Creation' areas where just a few expert amateurs can generate something that drasticly improves the game for many thousands of other players. Bit by bit the NPCs would get improved 'logic' to handle more and more situations. Pie in the Sky ?? Ive actually seen it done in a game called Neverwinter Nights over 10 years ago when a few Players were able to improve the games generic Combat Logic to far outdo the original Game Company provided code -- and that was with really feeble tools and ass-backwards mechanism only being available to the Players. The Game Company WOULD have to include a reasonable level of competency for the NPC behaviors from the start (before Player involvement could seriously start), but with the ($$$) savings on all the other game Asset Creation they could allocate ALOT more resources to starting that off properly. Most important WOULD be proper tools and a game engine that facilitates the whole process (not just for subsequent player usage, but to make the initial Company work more efficient as well). --- --- --- Killing Gil Alexander (or whats left of him) : I usually kill Gil, but its a mercy killing. I know I wouldn't want to live like that (and when he was sane he understood what an abomination he was going to turn into). Is there another motive that he could continue to impede you quest to get to Eleanor ? - you really dont know what other suprises he might have in store for you - can you really take that chance ? So if you are actually role playing as Delta, do you want to take that risk ? It would be funny if in the game you let him live, then he (50% chance) turns around soon after and does something that makes it impossible for you to move forward towardd YOUR goal - effectively losing the game for you. Have every 'boss' you get such an option with be the same way .... they may or might not. Would you now play the game differently? (Do game companies ACTUALLY want you to have to think for yourself ???) But the game track you are actually on in the Bioshock games are quite simple. Such decsions dont matter with the limited choreographed outcomes. The Fake 'moral choice' stuff all comes due at the end when it really doesnt matter any more. It also is far simpler (cheaper $$$) for the game maker NOT to have to have complicated plot divergances (even just a few). For the MMORPG, I would want more consequences for Players actions. But you also HAVE to have sufficient information presented to the player so that they can JUDGE what likely consequences are -- wht the risk is going to be (you can still have infrequent unlikely consequences to suprise the Player , but the majority of the decisions have to make sense). --- --- --- Killing Stanley Poole : So easy, just one whack and he's dead -- hardly satifying. But then it denies Poole the opportunity to weasel his way out of the predicament, as he had before. Funny would be after you let him go that he tells you something to get you to kill Sofia (thus solving his problem). He then would be off to find a new rock to hide under --- Where was he all those intervening years anyway ? (probably out of Sofia's sight as she might have some questions he would rather not answer). It might have been interesting to find his spider-hole (and stash) there in Dionysus Park as he got there barely moments after you drained the place (and those Lil Sisters sure came running pretty fast too)- and the corpses seem to have kept nice and fresh after 10 years underwater -- strange cuz ocean life loves corpses). So having a variety of responses to your in-game decisions would be much more interesting to the Players, and even BETTER having a wider range of possible consequences to experience and deal with. That would be one of the strengths of the MMORPG -- with multitudes of added Quest/Mission scenarios created with tools that facilitate creating many more options to their mini-plots. Plots that are obvious are fine, plots that are obscure BUT with the playing KNOWING that they may have obscure outcomes (so that they can compensate using the resources they have and use strategies when needed to counter the outcomes) can be more interesting. Having DEVELOPING situations the Player can spot and allow them time to react to, instead of the old "WHAM YOU ARE DEAD -- GAME OVER" things those SAVE and RELOAD games had long ago will be a major improvement. --- --- --- Moral Choice :Riiiiiight..... : This whole 'Moral Choice' thing is really a joke though. We go thru Rapture slaughtering HUNDREDS of Splicers left and right and nobody seems to care that THEY might be just as deserving to live as any of the 'bosses'. But then, options to sneak by all the opponents would run contrary to the game being first and foremost a 'blast-fest' "shoot-em-up" (the standard fare these days - Bioshock really is little different). You have little 'choice' in Bioshock, as you arent given the tools to even have a choice. There no opportunity except with the phony Harvest/Save on Little Sisters -- a 'choice' which has no real consequences except to get a different cutscene at the end of the game. All Splicers were automatically made hostile, so not much choice for you. One thing I really wish Bioshock 2 (and 1) had included was neutral Rapture inhabitants whom you could choose to kill and loot, ignore, or help : Say, pockets of survivors who were in hiding from the Splicers, and who needed to you perform tasks for them such as fight off an imminent invasion of Splicers, or guide them to an escape bathysphere/safety/whatever, or be the only one able to shut the emergeny gates before their building is flooded and they all drown. Having lost of small opportunities like this sprinkled throughout the game would not only have added more replayability, but also have made the game world and it's inhabitants seem more real. Infinite doesnt seem to offer much difference at all (and if anything is less creative in the options given to you). They hinted at some improvements in the early trailers, but like so many things that would have been 'better', they were dropped in the final game. Too hard to do, too delayed, too whatever, Infinite reverted back to the old tired formula. The MMORPGs plot specificly is not a 'slaughterfest' and would offer much more varied situations and real decisions to make. There would be no PERMA-DEATH, so consequences to players arent properly real to that extent, but as a game there is no way that the player can really be provided fully for proper decisions. There could be a 'Splicer Role-Playing' subgame that does offer PERMA-DEATH as a feature, but you really would not want to have that for a players avatar, as any/all character development (which is a big part of the game) would be constantly thrown out/discared and it would soon become too repetitive/tedious. --- --- --- . . .